This invention relates to antennas in general and more particularly to an improved antenna system for generating bearing information for use by aircraft.
Typically, bearing information in an omnidirectional radio range transmitting station is transmitted by using a rotating antenna. Mechanical rotation of the antenna can entail high equipment and maintenance costs for the system.
A low cost antenna system which does not use mechanically rotating antennas would enable bearing information to be transmitted from many of the distant measuring equipment (DME) ground stations used in aircraft navigation. In order to be employed at a DME ground station, the system transmitting the bearing information would have to conserve transmitter power to retain the service range of the DME ground station.